Numbers 15-11

15. The Shaky Hands' Self Titled
Well the indie folk will get me every time. That’s just a fact. But man, the first time I listened to this album I was really enthralled. It’s so accessible and so catchy. It’s everything that’s good about pop music. Delffs’ earnest delivery really makes you believe in the power of love and if that doesn’t get you, the jangle surely will. This is what you’re supposed to do on a self titled album. This is what these guys are all about. I’m convinced.
14. YACHT's I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real.
Man, oh man, who says dance music can’t be sincere? To make a confession, I actually thought LCD Soundsystem’s latest was from late last year until I looked at Pitchfork’s best of ‘07. But honestly? I’m not sure YACHT isn’t just better anyway. I stand by my ignorance. If it’s a beat contest, maybe LCD has a slight edge, but YACHT for sure gets the lyrical edge. His songs are so effervescent it hurts. His endearing candor stands in stark contrast with LCD’s pretentious affectation. Not that the pretension isn’t often hilarious.
13. Gruff Rhys' Candylion
The cover tells you everything you need to know about this album. It’s so frank and whimsical. Gruff made the Super Furry Animals famous for their playful beats and lyrical gyrations. Candylion is everything I love about SFA in a vulnerable uncharacteristically unostentatious light. With nothing to hide behind, Gruff’s anything but gruff voice really takes on it’s own identity. The proof of that, of course, is Skylon! It’s just a fourteen minute long story in near monotone with very little musical intrigue (comparatively). And it’s awesome. Gruff, I honestly never knew you cared.
12. Wheat's Every Day I Said a Prayer For Kathy and Made a One Inch Square
This album is brilliant. They avoid structure in every sense, and somehow make some of the catchiest songs I’ve heard all year. Musically, they’re building out, not up. There’s no pay-off, no (seemingly) inevitable capitulation to the friendly confines of pop ditties. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Instead, there are lyrical rounds, aimless crescendos, compounding, yet fleeting rhythms, and some of the most inspired vocals I’ve ever heard. What it lacks in accessibility, it makes up for in provocative ingenuity.
11. The Good Life's Help Wanted Nights
Kasher’s strength has always been his ability to highlight the frivolity of relationships, all the feelings involved, and the relentless nostalgia of it all. He does so sometimes sarcastically, but always poignantly and truthfully. He tells long playing stories that dramatically and enthusiastically go nowhere. With a startlingly confident stride towards country (certainly when you consider his Cursive roots), Kasher really indulges in his truest love, word play. From the clever, “I love your suffering/Like gravity loves a stumbling drunk”; to the hopeless, “But c’mon, we’ve all had our stumbles/And some nights it almost feels like love” to the sassy, “Your lover's up doing God only knows. . . who . . .” As long as he’s still singing, I’m still listening.